Fiction Books

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope

Nikki Grimes

Amazon Price: $11.55 List Price: $16.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $10.63

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Voted third party 1 out of 5 stars.
10 of 13 people found this review helpful.

You have GOT to be kidding me???? There is something seriously wrong with any parent that would give this god-king worship book to a child. I fear for anyone that focuses this much adoration towards a man. I fear for any nation that adores a leader to this extent. Lets pull our heads out of the clouds people.

Editorial Review:

Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago, from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to Hope. Even as a boy, Barack knew he wasn't quite like anybody else, but through his journeys he found the ability to listen to Hope and become what he was meant to be: a bridge to bring people together.

This is the moving story of an exceptional man, as told by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Bryan Collier, both winners of the Coretta Scott King Award. Barack Obama has motivated Americans to believe with him, to believe that every one of us has the power to change ourselves and change our world.

Kit an American Girl (6 Book Set)

Valerie Tripp

Amazon Price: $26.37 List Price: $39.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: American Girl Publishing Inc Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $22.31

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Quality reading for any preteen! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I just bought this set for a neighbors daughter and she hasn't been able to put them down. She is on book six and looking forward to the new movie coming out. It is a beautiful compilation of stories that go to the heart of any young girl. Ann Clarke, author of People Are So Different! based on tolerance and understanding.

Books 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The American Girl boxed set came in the amount of time promised and was in great condition. The price and shipping were both very reasonable. Will definately purchase more in the future

Great set of books for young girls and young at heart. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great set of books for young girls and young at heart. Kit Kittredge is believable and this series teaches kids about the Great Depression without making it too depressing or sugar-coating it in any way. An excellent series!

Lovely storys for girls 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Kit is a great "American girl", and the stories are fantastic. My children (pre- school) love her, they want to hear her stories again and again. And at the end of every book, children learn something about America as it was at the time the storie plays.

My 5-year-old really loved these books 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My 5-year old daughter is fairly persnickety about what I read to her. We've tried other chapter books, including Disney's Fairy Series, Alice in Wonderland, L. Frank Baum's "OZ" books, and Peter Pan. This is the first that she's really connected with.

Kit is a strong role model for girls, modeling intelligence, hard work, and kindness in a way that doesn't seem fake or contrived. I admit that I bought the books just to better illustrate the movie, but I'm sold. I intend on buying more of the American Girl series to share with my little girl.

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out

Amazon Price: $19.79 List Price: $29.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Candlewick Amazon Marketplace: 62 new & used starting at $12.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Our White House: Looking in, Looking Out is an astounding collection featuring more than 100 award-winning children's book authors and illustrators. It is much more than a history about the home and office of U.S. presidents and their families. Commissioned by the National Children's Book and Literary Alliance, this stunning picture book transcends the bounds of educational textbook, or any particular genre, for that matter. It includes essays by historians and well-known nonfiction writers (like David McCullough), fictional stories, poetry (including a memorable poem about Lincoln and a butterfly by Kate DiCamillo), imagined letters to the president, texts of actual speeches, memoir (including an essay by Linda Johnson Robb about the eerie history of a White House room where she once stayed), transcripts of TV interviews, and clever games such as a "Best in Show" presidential pet contest and a "Who's in the House?" presidential board game. Among the book's most captivating features are the "illustration essays" which feature stories or ideas rendered completely through pictures. Notable examples include David Small's sketch journal "Backstairs at the White House,"depicting all the people who work in the house and keep it running, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" speech illustrated by Calef Brown, Peter Sis, Ed Young, and Stephen Alcorn.

Our White House will likely be a favorite of children--and adults-who love presidential trivia, historical facts, and old stories. Children who weren't White House buffs already will surely be drawn into this colorful, fun history of an iconic building that simultaneously tells the story of the United States. (Ages 9 to 12) --Heidi Broadhead

Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving

Ann Mcgovern

Amazon Price: $5.99 List Price: $5.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Scholastic Paperbacks Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $1.97

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Little Long 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book was full of information. So full in fact that it is almost too much for it's intended age group. To read this with my 3 year old, who LOVES stories, we had to read it in three installments. The book seemed more appropriate for children who are older or can read to themselves, my 6 year old loved it!

Pilgrim's First Thansgiving 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I would like to thank you for sending this product in a timely manner. It was recieved in excellent condition.

The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is informative about the Thanksgiving Tradition and the illistrations are lovely. I want my grandchildren to know why we have Thanksgiving and that it is more than Football Games and Big Shopping.

My opinion doesn't matter - the kids love it 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

While I can appreciate the criticism some readers have offered on this book, I say the bottom line matters: my children love it. The simple text and nice pictures make the subject accessible for young ones. They take it off the shelf even when Thanksgiving is months away. Many questions follow: why could they not pray the way they wanted? Why did Indians kill deer to survive? Why did women and girls have to work on Thanksgiving? In my opinion, this book - or should I say the introduction to history - opens the door to further learning. As a result, we bought other books on specific subjects (like about Native Americans). Sure, "Pilgrims's First Thanksgiving" could go into a lot more detail, but that would make it a book for older kids. Highly recommended as is.

Editorial Review:

The Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving lasted three whole days. Ann McGovern's simple text introduces children to the struggles of the Pilgrims during their first year at Plymouth Colony and the events leading to the historic occasion we celebrate today.

The Wednesday Wars

Gary D. Schmidt

Amazon Price: $10.40 List Price: $16.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Clarion Books Amazon Marketplace: 66 new & used starting at $4.39

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero in THE WEDNESDAY WARS—a wonderfully witty and compelling novel about a teenage boy's mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year.

Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn't like Holling—he's sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.

The Gingerbread Cowboy

Janet Squires

Amazon Price: $12.23 List Price: $17.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Laura Geringer Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $9.03

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> United States -> Fiction -> Westerns

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Imaginative retake on an old story! Fabulous illustrations! 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

This is a great book for the youngest readers! Your little ones will delight in the Gingerbread Cowboy's chase across the barren lands of the Old West as he runs to save his life. Many animals are after him but he manages to outwit them all, even the clever old coyote, with the help of the rancher's wife.

Kids will laugh when they hear the Gingerbread Cowboy chant, " ... You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man." They will certainly enjoy the colorful illustrations of the animals depicted against the contrasting, muted background of the Old West desert and mountains.

Hazel Rochman, BOOKLIST reviewer, describes this story best (see Editorial Reviews above): " ... universal trickster tale with a cowboy slant."

SIDENOTE: You may have noticed that Amazon has made some changes to its website. If it looks the same to you right now, look out for a new format that will be rolling out gradually in the weeks to come. If you can see the changes, especially the review format, I'd like to know what you think. Please leave me a comment with your opinion.

"Love the new look" or "Hate the new look" comments are perfectly acceptable.

My e-mail address is at top of this review. Thank you for your time."

Editorial Review:

"Giddyup, giddyup as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

The Gingerbread Cowboy can run from the rancher, he can dash past the javelinas, and he can giddyup right by the cattle grazing on the mesa. But what happens when he meets a coyote sleeping in the sun?

Janet Squires and Holly Berry retell this classic tale with a Wild Western flair, filled with rodeo-romping fun.

Samantha: An American Girl (The American Girls Collection/Boxed Set)

Susan S. Adler

Amazon Price: $26.37 List Price: $39.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: American Girl Publishing Inc Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $9.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Sreies of Books 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

My daughter is nine years old and has been enjoying all the American Girl books since she was seven. We have purchased several sets from Amazon and only one set has had an issue (got two of one book). The books are great for girls that age and are not only fun for them to read but educational as well. I would reccomend them to anyone with a girl age 7-10.

An American Girl (Samantha) 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

"An American Girl"
"Samantha"

This is a series!!! I have had these books for about 5 years! I love them!! I have read them over and over again!!!
It was cool because the first time I read them what ever happened in the book happened to me! It was kind of weird!! But fun!!
I also loved it because my name is Samantha and I felt like I was in the book! It was the most fun I have ever had reading a book!
I would recommend these books to EVERYONE! Because they are so cool and they seem really real! You don't have to read the Samantha ones you can read all different kinds of girls like Melissa and there is just a whole bunch of stories!
Thanks for reading my review!


Reviewed by
Sammi Carter

Editorial Review:

The American Girls Collection. This is Samantha. There are 6 books about Samantha and her family and friends.

The Little House Collection Box Set (Full Color) (Little House)

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Amazon Price: $29.69 List Price: $44.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperTrophy Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $22.97

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( W ) -> Wilder, Laura Ingalls

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The set only has the first 5 books, but has gorgeous color illustrations 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This boxed set of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House of the Prairie series of books only contains Books 1-5 [a puzzle indeed, why couldn't the publishers have made the entire series available?]. The books in this set, in order are: Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, Little House on the Prairie, On the Banks of Plum Creek, and By the Shores of Silver Lake.

Though it is not the complete set, this boxed collection is worth splurging on as it is a full-color collector's edition. The illustrations by Garth Williams are beautiful and truly evoke the wonderful world written about by Laura Ingalls Wilder all those years ago. The paper is of high quality and has a glossy finish to it, the text type is large enough that it won't strain one's eyes, and is sturdy enough to be held and read over and over again.

I believe the other books in the series not included in this set are also available to be purchased individually[also illustrated in full color by Garth Brooks]. The missing titles are: The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy Golden Years, and The First Four Years.

Fans both young and old will enjoy these timeless stories of family,community, faith and challenges, and this sumptuously illustrated boxed set is sure to be a keepsake for collectors, and something that can be passed down.

Editorial Review:

Set during the pioneer days of the late 1800s and early 1900s, Laura Ingalls Wilder's books chronicle her life growing up on the Western frontier. For the first time in the history of the Little House books, these new editions feature Garth Williams' interior art in vibrant, full color. Come along for the adventure with this collector's set of the first five Little House books.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party

M.T. Anderson

Amazon Price: $12.23 List Price: $17.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Candlewick Amazon Marketplace: 59 new & used starting at $6.87

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A gothic tale becomes all too shockingly real in this mesmerizing magnum opus by the acclaimed author of FEED.

It sounds like a fairy tale. He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the finest of classical educations. Raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and his mother — a princess in exile from a faraway land — are the only persons in their household assigned names. As the boy's regal mother, Cassiopeia, entertains the house scholars with her beauty and wit, young Octavian begins to question the purpose behind his guardians' fanatical studies. Only after he dares to open a forbidden door does he learn the hideous nature of their experiments — and his own chilling role in them. Set against the disquiet of Revolutionary Boston, M. T. Anderson's extraordinary novel takes place at a time when American Patriots rioted and battled to win liberty while African slaves were entreated to risk their lives for a freedom they would never claim. The first of two parts, this deeply provocative novel reimagines the past as an eerie place that has startling resonance for readers today.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation)

M.T. Anderson

Amazon Price: $15.63 List Price: $22.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Candlewick Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $13.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Amazon Best of the Month, October 2008: With the publication of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume I back in 2006, M.T. Anderson assured readers that his gripping account of the American Revolution from the perspective of a young slave in colonial Boston would continue. Volume I received the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, and the anticipation among critics and readers inevitably grew for the story to continue. Thankfully, Anderson is a man of his word. With The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves Anderson has not just delivered an equally haunting second and final act to his hero's story, he's also completed a literary masterpiece that simply blows away its limited categorization as Young Adult lit. Octavian II engages the reader (teenaged or otherwise) to reimagine the birth of the nation from an unfamiliar perspective--that of an African American slave compelled by incredible circumstance, and the hope of freedom, to fight in a counterrevolutionary army. No less than David McCullough and Joseph Ellis, Anderson turns everything you thought you knew about American history sideways. Through his expert incorporation of historical detail and colonial-era voice, the novel transports us deep into the perilous military and moral battles that defined the American Revolution. That these historical conflicts continue to inform today's charged debates about national identity and purpose makes his novels all the more relevant and powerful. --Lauren Nemroff

Read a Letter from the Author on What Inspired The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
(CLICK on Image to Enlarge)

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